Ceremonies have begun to mark the removal of a buffer zone that has divided Ivory Coast for five years. A bulldozer knocked down a UN military check-point, leading to cheers as vehicles moved freely into the zone. President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, jointly inspected government troops and former rebel soldiers. They will form a joint force to patrol the zone separating the rebel-run north from the loyalist-controlled south. The 600km-long zone has been patrolled by 11,000 French and UN peacekeepers to keep the rivals apart. A BBC correspondent says this is portrayed as a major step towards reunifying the country and holding elections. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

France's foreign intelligence service learned as early as January 2001 that al-Qaida was preparing a hijacking plot likely to involve a U.S. airplane, former intelligence officials said Monday, confirming a report that also said the CIA received the warning. Le Monde newspaper said it had obtained 328 pages of classified documents on Osama bin Laden's terror network that were drawn up by the French spy service, the DGSE, between July 2000 and October 2001. The documents included a Jan. 5, 2001, intelligence report warning that al-Qaida was at work on a hijacking plot. Pierre-Antoine Lorenzi, the former chief of staff for the agency's director at the time, said he remembered the note and that it mentioned only the vague outlines of a hijacking plot nothing that foreshadowed the scale of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks."It wasn't about a specific airline or a specific day, it was not a precise plot," Lorenzi told The Associated Press. "It was a note that said, ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3045329

A prominent former Bush administration official is fighting to save his job. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal both report Monday on the efforts of former deputy defense secretary and Iraq war architect Paul D. Wolfowitz to retain his post as president of the World Bank over a scandal involving his securing of a high-paying job for a female companion. The Times says Wolfowitz was dealt a "crippling setback" over the weekend when a powerful oversight committee at the bank delivered an "unusually public rebuke of his leadership." While Wolfowitz has vowed to stay on, the Times suggests his days may be numbered, saying the bank's board seems "to be buying time for Mr. Wolfowitz to consider resigning." The roots of the bank's displeasure with Wolfowitz run deep. "Unhappiness with his leadership began almost from the day he was appointed two years ago," the Times says, with many staff and top officials "uneasy over being led by an architect of the Iraq war." ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/16/the_skinny/main2686498.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2686498

Two young brothers were pulled unconscious from a murky backyard pool, and one died later while the other was hospitalized in critical condition. The boys' grandmother found the 5-year-old boy floating in the pool Saturday afternoon at the family home in the Walnut Park area south of downtown, sheriff's Deputy Anthony Moore said. The boys' father pulled him out and tried to resuscitate him, before realizing his 3-year-old son was also missing. The father eventually found the younger boy, Jonathon Verdugo, just below the surface, but he and paramedics were unable to resuscitate him, sheriff's officials said....http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3045375

Cabinet ministers loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned on Monday to protest the prime minister’s refusal to set a timetable for an American withdrawal, raising the prospect that the Mahdi Army militia could return to the streets of Baghdad. The number of bodies found dumped in Baghdad increased sharply on Sunday to 30 — from as low as five in recent days — in a possible sign of the militia’s resurgence, even ahead of the six resignations. The bodies, most of them tortured before they were shot execution-style, are widely believed to be the victims of Shiite death squads associated with the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr had ordered his fighters hide their weapons and stay off the streets shortly before the U.S. troop surge and security crackdown began on Feb. 14. The departure of the six ministers, while unlikely to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, deals a significant blow to the U.S.-backed leader, who relied on support from the Sadrists to gain office. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18131236/

At least one person has been killed and one injured in a shooting on the campus of a university in Virginia, US, the Associated Press has reported. The shooting at Virginia Tech reportedly took place in West Ambler Johnston Hall, a student dormitory. A warning posted on the university's web site warned students that there was a gunman on the loose on campus. The website message advised students that the police were in attendance and to remain indoors until further notice. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6560685.stm